Star stole one fleeting glance in Luc’s direction. His pronounced stillness suggested that he was as stunned by this development as she herself was. It had not occurred to Luc that Emilie, who invariably agreed with everything he said and did, might flatly refuse an offer of financial restitution! And why was Emilie refusing? Emilie believed that their broken marriage meant that she could not consider Juno’s debt as being either a family concern or Luc’s responsibility.
‘On the contrary, Emilie,’ Luc countered with brilliant dark eyes, a faint smile curving his wide, sensual mouth. ‘Our marriage is not over. Star and I were about to tell you that we’ve just embarked on a trial reconciliation.’
CHAPTER FOUR
LIKE a woman caught up in a sudden polar blast of bone-chilling cold, Star simply froze in position.
Her stunned gaze fixed to Luc’s bold, masculine profile while he focused his entire attention on Emilie. A trial reconciliation? Star could not credit her own ears! Luc was famed for his ice-cool nerves and fast reactions in times of crisis. How could a male as clever, cautious and controlled as Luc have made such an insane announcement?
‘That is the most wonderful news I’ve ever heard!’ With a sudden smile of surprise and pleasure, Emilie scrambled up to clasp Luc’s hand and extend her other hand expectantly in Star’s direction.
‘Star…’ Luc prompted, in probably much the same commanding tone he employed with slow-moving junior employees at the Sarrazin bank.
But Star stared at Emilie’s extended hand and found she simply couldn’t move a muscle. Of course, she knew what Luc was trying to do. She understood why he had suddenly pulled that whopping fib like a rabbit out of a magician’s hat. But how did Luc think that such an enormous lie could be carried off? Pretending that they were having another go at their marriage would demand far more of a convincing show than Luc could fondly imagine.
No doubt he thought he was telling a little white lie which he could easily shrug off again with a regretful sigh at some stage in the future. But then he wasn’t aware that Emilie and Star had remained in too close contact for such a pretence to work. And Star was furious at the idea that she might be forced to stay out of touch with Emilie to support that same pretence!
Star collided unwarily with Luc’s intimidating dark gaze. Get up and play your part, that hard, warning scrutiny urged. When she failed to move, he bent down and closed his other hand over hers to literally lift her up into doing his bidding.
‘I’m so very happy for you both.’ Emilie folded Star into her arms. ‘Although,’ she added hesitantly, ‘I’m not quite sure I like the sound of that word “trial”, Luc. Particularly with young children involved—’
Star jerked back into life and interrupted the older woman by pressing a harried kiss to her cheek. ‘I’m so sorry, but we really do have to rush off now, Emilie. You know what Luc’s schedule is like! I hope you’ll allow Luc to sort out this financial thing for you.’
‘Of course Emilie will,’ Luc asserted.
‘Yes, and then I shall visit you all in France this month,’ Emilie announced with an even brighter smile of anticipation, seeming not to notice that Star’s expressive face fell by a mile in shock. ‘Now I can really look forward to spending the summer at Chateau Fontaine with Star and those beautiful little children of—’
‘Gosh, got to run…love you so much, Emilie. See you soon!’ Star carolled wildly, yanking on Luc’s hand with desperate determination to drag him out of the room before the older woman could spill the beans about the twins’ parentage.
Shell-shocked by the experience of visiting Emilie when Luc was in an inventive mood, Star climbed back into the limo and just sat there like a stone effigy, her bemused dismay as to how Emilie’s expectations could possibly be met etched in her face.
‘We’ll fly back to France this evening,’ Luc drawled without skipping a beat.
A faint frown line indented Star’s smooth brow. ‘Sorry…you said…?’
‘You heard what I said,’ Luc informed her drily.
‘I’m not coming to France just because you’ve landed us in a heck of a mess with that stupid lie!’ Star exclaimed in vehement accusation.
Faint colour darkened the superb angles of Luc’s hard cheekbones. ‘Scarcely a “stupid lie”, mon ange. It was the only option left. If Emilie won’t allow me to repay that money, she’ll be homeless by the end of the month. Without the income from the investments she cashed in she can’t even pay the rent on that house, never mind hope to keep herself with the smallest degree of comfort!’
Star had paled as he spelt out those harsh facts. ‘But—’ ‘Just for once…concentrate that brain of yours,’ Luc advised grimly. ‘Your mother reduced Emilie to this level. Emilie’s very proud, and she might be talking very bravely at the moment. But at her age how do you think she will cope with such a drastic change in lifestyle? Worry and distress will affect her health and will most definitely shorten her life.’
Star lost even more colour. And by the time Luc had finished speaking she saw that there were no other options. Just as suddenly she felt as if she was in a trap. She loved Emilie; she loved Emilie very much. But it seemed awesomely cruel to Star that she should be forced into such a situation on the very day she had finally mustered the sense and courage to say goodbye to Luc and her feelings for him for ever.
‘You can spend the summer at Chateau Fontaine,’ Luc continued levelly. ‘It will be a small price to pay for Emilie’s peace of mind. I will stay in the Paris apartment and make occasional weekend visits. Emilie will soon see for herself that you are being sadly neglected. She’ll be disappointed, but I’m sure she’ll understand when you decide that you do want a divorce.’
‘Magic…not only do I get to spend three months away from my boy friend…but I also get to be the one who demands the divorce. Thanks, but no thanks!’ Her bright eyes shimmered with angry pain. ‘You’ll have to come up with something an awful lot better than that!’
Luc dealt her a cool, considering appraisal, dark eyes diamond-bright. ‘So you’ll have to do without sex for three months. You’ll live.’
Star shivered with sheer rage.
‘Let me be even more frank,’ Luc continued in a tone as smooth as cut-crystal. ‘Your life is a disaster zone. You’re only twenty and already you have two children. Where’s their father?’
Eyes aflame with defiance, Star stared back at him.
‘Do you even know who the father is?’ Luc drawled.
Furious colour lashing her cheekbones, Star snatched in a ragged breath to steady herself. She wanted to shout back at him, but she didn’t want to waken the twins and distress them. ‘How dare you ask me that?’
Unmoved, Luc raised a winged brow. ‘Is that a yes or a no?’
‘Of course I know…and I deeply resent the suggestion that I might not have known!’ Star dragged her attention from him and focused instead on Venus and Mars. ‘But they weren’t conceived in what you might call a lasting relationship—’
‘You had a one-night stand,’ Luc assumed in derisive interruption.
Star breathed in so deep she wondered that she didn’t simply explode. ‘Yes, I suppose that would be the most apt description,’ she conceded unevenly. ‘The twins weren’t planned—’
‘So they just happened along, much like you did yourself? Doesn’t that strike you as a very irresponsible attitude?’
‘Their father was irresponsible too,’ Star pointed out dulcetly. ‘And the reason he’s not helping me to support the twins is that he doesn’t know that I got pregnant because I decided not to tell him.’
Luc shifted a broad shoulder. The slight, elegant Gallic shrug of dismissal suggested his waning interest in the subject.
Cut off in full swing, and feeling incredibly snubbed by his apparent lack of normal human curiosity, Star thrust up her chin. ‘I can’t fly to France this evening.’
‘You must,’ Luc contradicted. ‘You can pack what you need for tonight. I will have the rest of your possessions cleared and flown over tomorrow. We can’t afford to appear lukewarm about our reconciliation at this stage.’
‘It just gets worse and worse…’ Star groaned. ‘We’re getting sucked deeper and deeper in.’
‘I’m afraid there won’t be time for you to cook for Rory.’ Without the slightest warning, Luc’s wide mouth curved into a startlingly charismatic smile.
Her heart jumped like a bemused bird smashing itself against a windowpane. That so rare smile stole her breath from her throat and sent her treacherous pulses pounding. Her colour fluctuating, she collided unwarily with stunning dark eyes alight with amusement, and her sense of impending tragedy simply mushroomed. Her whole body was taut as a bow, every muscle so tight it hurt, and all Luc had done was smile, filling her with intense awareness of his masculinity and all the raw-edged emotions she had sworn to put behind her.
‘Unless you’ve been polishing up your catering skills since we last met, Rory may well live to be grateful for the cancellation,’ Luc extended silkily.